Seven Photographs
by Jared Someone
Summary: - Because a picture is worth a thousand odds - SxK - Happy Birthday xo.Kyorii


**Greetings my lovely fanfic readers. This Story is for a good friend of mine, and a fellow fanfic writer who goes by the name of xoKyorii. You see, it is her birthday today, and I decided that she should get a fanfic dedicated just to her. So here is what I want my reviewers to do. First, read the fanfic. Second, write a lovely review that includes a happy birthday xoKyorii somewhere in it, and thirdly, if you havn't done so already, go to her profile page and read some of her stories and review them. If you have already, then go to her profile page and read them again and review under anonymous. Love you all so much, now on with the story. Happy Birthday xoKyorii, enjoy being 15.**

S**e**_**V**_**e**n _**P**_h_**o**__T__o_**gr**_**A**__**P**_**h**s.

_x-_Because a picture's worth a thousand odds_-x_

_1993 _

"But muuuuuuuuuuum,"

The child-like whine had come from a small brown spiky-haired boy who could not have been any older than 3, who was being dragged by his mother around a local mall. His mother was a tall woman with matching brown hair as the small child but was long and silky, who went by the name of Aerith Strife-Gainsborough. The child was clearly trying to get out of her mothers vice like grip, but was failing and rather dramatically.

"No buts Sora Strife, your not staying at home while your father's in Balamb," The mother said as she dragged her son, his feet sliding against the marble floor.

"What about Vanny?" Sora asked his mother in a desperate hope to still get out of shopping with her.

"Vanitas is only 13, there is no way I'm allowing him to babysit you all by himself," She said as they began walking to one of the many clothing stores.

Half an hour later Sora and his mother walked out of the store, Sora still struggling against his mother and his mother dragging him around with ease.

Sora, who was desperate not to go into another store, looked around to find something, _anything_ to use to get away from the tedious shopping trip. And then he saw it.

It was like a water spot in a dessert, a space station in deep space. It was HIS survival, the only thing that could save him from hours upon hours of shopping, the only thing that could save him. He had to act fast, if he didn't pick the right moment, not to mention the right wording, then it would all cave in around him and he would be forced to spend the rest of his precious afternoon in fashion stores and –_shudders_- Perfume departments.

Finally choosing the right words, Sora took a deep breath and yelled but two words.

"MUM! PLAYGROUND!"

Aerith turned around to see where her son was pointing. It was quite a large play area, with different levels to climb, slide and sit. And to top it all off, it was guarded by some of the mall security. In short, the perfect place to escape from his mother.

"Mum, pleeeeeese, can I go?" Sora asked…nay, _begged_ to go to the sanctuary.

"Well…alright, I'll be done in a couple of hours," Aerith smiled and Sora jumped as he began running as fast as he could towards the play area.

For half an hour he spent the time running, jumping, laughing, doing what any normal kid would do. He laughed with the other children, raced them around the area, and watched as the security guards smiled at the child's innocence.

As Sora slid down the slide, laughing as he did, he looked to the left and instantly gasped. Standing near the guards were two people. A mother with long black hair and what appeared to be her daughter, a girl about the same age as Sora with shoulder length autumn red hair and a pure innocence on her face. Sora was transfixed at the girl and it took him a couple of seconds to regain his hearing so he could hear what the mother was saying to this young goddess.

"Now I'm just going to be a couple of hours, you stay here…and don't wonder off, ok?" The woman said and the little girl nodded her head quickly before she began to walk towards the jungle area. Sora could not stop staring and began to blush and look away when she noticed that he had been staring at her. Slowly she began to make her way towards the small child and all Sora could do was stand there and look down, hiding his face with his brown spiky hair.

"Hello,"

Sora gasped ever so slightly as he looked up to see the young girl looking straight at him. She had a smile on her face and was hiding something behind her back. Her voice was the reason for Sora's escaped gasp, as it was one of the most beautiful thing's he had ever heard in his life, like songbirds early in the morning.

Barely looking up, Sora muttered something that sounded like a "Hi,"

"My name is Kairi Lockhart," The young girl smiled as she bobbled up and down.

"I-I'm Sora," Sora muttered to the goddess known as Kairi.

"…Why won't you look at me?" The girl asked innocently, and Sora looked up to see the girl looking at him in a quizzical manner.

"Oh, it's just…well…you're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen in my life," Sora said innocently as a red blush escaped and spread across his face.

The girl giggled as she revealed her hands and what she had been hiding. They were a bouquet of wildflowers, she smiled as she picked a purple one and handed it to Sora.

"I think you're very handsome," Kairi began to blush as well and Sora looked at her with a surprised look before he grinned and took the flower.

"Thanks," he said.

"We should get married," Kairi's eyes widened as she jumped up and down.

"Yeah," Sora smiled as his own eyes began to glow.

_**-SNAP-**_

Both Sora and Kairi turned to see Sora's mother standing there with a camera.

"Muuuuum," Sora began to go a brighter red as he held his hands in front of his face.

"I'm sorry, but you just looked so cute there," Aerith smiled at her son.

"It's embarrassing," Sora cried out and Aerith giggled.

"Come on honey, it's time to go," And Sora groaned.

"Can't I stay for a little while longer?"

"Honey, you know that the Leonhart's are coming over for dinner tonight, I still have to prepare for it," Aerith said as she placed her hands on her hips.

Grumbling, Sora began to walk towards his mother, but was stopped when Kairi grabbed hold of his wrist.

"Will I ever see you again?" She asked in a child-like voice.

"Defiantly," Sora smiled and Kairi looked away before she quickly kissed him on the cheek and ran off into the playground area.

Sora was transfixed as he moved his hand to wear she had kissed him, slowly going red for the third time that day. Aerith smiled as she looked at the stunned expression of her son, before she walked up to him, took his hand and led him to the exit, and for the rest of the day, he was completely and utterly stunned at the events that had happened and the playground, and made a promise that he would one day meet this wonderful and beautiful girl.

_1996 _

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY RIKU!"

The silver haired boy known as Riku Leonhart smiled as he blew out the 7 candles for his birthday. Next to him his best friend since birth, Sora Strife was beaming. Their location was Wonderland, one of the largest play-area centers on Destiny Island. Today was Riku's 7th Birthday and all their classmates from Traverse Elementary School, as well as their families had been invited to celebrate the event. On his right hand side was his other best friend Lea Williamson, who was nicknamed Axel after Famous actor Axel Rhodes, due to their likeliness. Next to him was Roxas Fair, Axel's best friend and good friends with Sora and Riku. Up the back were Sora and Roxas' brothers, Vanitas Strife and Ventus Fair, both looking remarkably like 16 year old versions of their brothers, but Ventus looked older and Vanitas had pitch black hair with paler skin. Both were chatting about something important, probably their Pre-Mastery Exam's they were both going to take in order to finish their lower school education.

Once they had cut the birthday cake and eaten most of it, everyone ran back into the play area, climbing and sliding down the extremely large slide. Sora and Riku were both racing around the playground on a racecourse they had designed themselves before hand. Up and down, around, up again, left, right and finally they reached the slide-area. Riku managed to get their first and slide down on his back while Sora, who was merely seconds behind him slid on his belly.

"I won Sora, I won again," Riku grinned.

"No fare Riku, again, double or nothing," Sora said, not really understanding the meaning behind the words.

Riku was about to say something, but they both tackled by a Blonde and Fire-Red blur also known as Roxas and Axel.

"Guys!" Sora groaned as he rubbed his head.

"Sora, Riku, guess what we found," Roxas said as he grinned.

"What?" Riku asked.

Roxas and Axel looked at each other before they turned to the two.

"GIRLS," they both shouted before bursting out laughing.  
"Where?" both Sora and Riku asked, clearly interested.

"Over near the ball pit," and with that the four began to run towards the ball pit, skidding to a halt behind a corner. The four friends all looked behind a corner, and gasped.

On the other side of the ball pit two girls, one had bright blonde hair that barely touched her shoulder, the other autumn red hair in a ponytail. They were both talking about something, but none of the guys could hear what they were saying.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Sora whispered to no one in particular.

"Probably unicorns and flowers and fairies or something girly like that," Roxas whispered back.

"Urgh, so boring, come on guys," Riku said and both himself and Axel ran off towards one of the tube slides.

However, both Sora and Roxas stayed, too interested in the girls to play with the others.

"I have to figure out what they're talking about," Sora said, making it his mission to figure out the information they were sharing with each other.

"Me to," Roxas stated and both the boys began to slowly walk towards the girls, trying not to draw any sorts of attention towards themselves.

However, this proved ineffective, as when they began to get closer to the ballpit where the girls were conversing on the other side, Roxas managed to trip over Sora's shoes and as he fell, grabbed onto Sora, causing both the fall into the ball pit. The yell caused both the girls to turn and look at the two boys.

"Urgh, Sora, you and your big feet ruined everything," Roxas whined.

"My feet? Your voice was the one that gave us away," Sora answered back as he grabbed a bright red plastic ball and threw it at Roxas' head.

Before Roxas could retaliate, he looked up to see the two girls turning to walk away.

"WAIT!" Roxas called out as he pulled himself out from the ballpit and ran towards the two girls, Sora close in pursuit.

Once they had reached the 2 girls, they both bent down clutching on their knees gasping for breath. The two girls looked at the boys gasping for air, before they burst out laughing.

"What are you laughing at?" Sora asked.

"You two are so funny," The girl with blonde hair could not stop giggling.

"We just wanted to find out what you were talking about," Sora said softly, and the two girls giggled.

The two girls looked at each other and whispered to each other before they turned back to the guys.

"Ok, we'll tell you…but you have to give us a kiss on the cheek," The girl in autumn red hair giggled, and Roxas instantly stuck out his tongue.

"EWW, No way! I'm not kissing a girl," he said with a disgusted look on his face.

"Well, no kiss, no info," The blonde haired girl smiled and Roxas grumbled, clearly defeated.

Sora, however, was staring at the autumn haired girl transfixed with her beauty. He then took a deep breath, and quickly leaned in and kissed her on the cheek, looking around beforehand to make sure that no one had seen him commit this act.

However, he hadn't looked closely enough.

_**-SNAP- **_

The four teens looked up to see a woman with long black hair smiling, holding up a camera. Sora, with a look of horror on his face began running away as fast as he could away from the two girls.

"Sora, wait up!" Roxas called out and he left the two girls as he ducked round a corner and followed his good friend, leaving the two girls gasping at what Sora had just done.

"Kairi! Namine!"

The two girls looked towards the woman who was holding the camera.

"Coming mum!" The two girls called back and they began running towards their mother, giggling at the events that had just happened.

_2006_

The sun was shining brightly over the Destiny Island, especially on their beach area. A group of friends were celebrating finally finishing their Pre-Mastery Exams, and were now free for a 12-week holiday. They were celebrating with a full day at the beach, with a bonfire and alcohol for later on in the night. This group consisted of Sora Strife, Roxas Fair, Tidus Clearwater, Hope Esthiem and Noctis Caelum with Riku Leonhart, Wakka Heraldson, Snow Villiers and Lea "Axel" Williamson who were considered part of "The Group" tagging along. Sora and Roxas' brothers Ventus and Vanitas along with Ven's Girlfriend Aqua Marianna and their good friend Terrance "Terra" Eraqus were getting alcohol and wood for the night.

It was getting pretty late in the evening and Sora was getting impatient. While everyone else were lying on the beach chatting and having a good time, Sora was on the phone to his bother.

"Vanitas, it doesn't take that long to get alcohol and wood, you've been gone for hours…what do you mean you took a detour?...to where?...what do you mean you've stopped at the Enchanted Domain? What could you possibly be doing th…oh…Well tell Aqua to get off of Ventus and get over here! It's getting dark and we're going to need light very quickly," as he pressed the 'end call' button, Sora walked over to the rest of the group.

"So? Where are they?" Riku asked.

"Well, as soon as Aqua and Ventus stop-"

"Ok, that's enough, we've got it," Roxas stopped him, clearly not wanting to go any further with the subject. It was his brother they were discussing after all.

"So how long are they going to be?" Tidus asked.

"Well, assuming that Vanny manages to throw cold water on the two right now, they should be here in a 15-20 minutes," Sora sighed as he lay back down.

"There must be something we can do while we wait," Snow said as he stretched and got up.

Everyone was silent, thinking of something to do, when all of a sudden there was a laughter, which caused the guys to look in the direction of the laughter.

Along the beach talking and laughing were several girls who were all chilling and having fun.

"Hello Ladies," Axel smiled as he put a hand through his hair.

"We just found our thing we can do while we wait," Hope laughed.

"The question is how do we get those girls to come over here," Snow said and Sora suddenly smiled.

"Dude, chuck the tennis ball over near them," Sora said as he took his shirt off, revealing a well ripped 6-pack.

Riku, who knew Sora all to well and therefore already knew what he was thinking, grabbed the tennis ball lying near a cricket set they had been using a couple of hours before, took aim and threw the ball.

"I GOT IT!" Sora shouted as he began running as fast as he could towards the ball and more importantly, the girls.

The ball hit the sand near one of the girls, whom all looked up to see the boy running towards them. They all giggled as his muscularity and waited until he reached them, ignoring the ball as he slowed down.

"Oh, hey, sorry we were just playing cricket," As he turned around, to see all the guys in the position of a normal cricket game. Smiling, he turned back to the girls and picked up his ball.

"I'm Sora, by the way, Sora Strife," He smiled and the girls all smiled back at him. One of them got up, one with short autumn red hair, and introduced herself, "Nice to meet you, I'm Kairi Lockhart, this is my Sister, Namine Lockhart and these are our friends, Xion Wise, Arlene "Larxene" Dysley, Yuna Nedlog, Lulu Cihtog, Claire Farron and her sister Sereh and Stella Fleuret," The girls all smiled and waved at Sora, and Sora smiled back.

"Well, if you're not doing anything, why don't you come hang around us, in a couple of minutes well have a bonfire and alcohol, and we could sure use some company,"

The girls all looked at each other and gave a nod before they got up and began to walk towards the guys where Sora introduced everyone, and in a matter of minutes everyone was getting nice and cozy. Roxas smiled at Namine as she drew his face in the sand with a stick, Xion was in deep conversation with Riku, Larxene and Axel had already begun making out, Yuna and Tidus were both chucking a tennis ball between them as they conversed, Wakka and Lulu had disappeared somewhere, Claire and Hope were talking, but Claire kept glancing at her sister Sereh and Snow, making sure nothing too suspicious was happening between them, and Noctis and Stella were both talking, Noctis in his usual monotone voice, and Stella in her happy-go-lucky sounding voice. This left Sora and Kairi to converse.

"So, what school do you go to, I'm pretty sure you don't go to Mirage High," Sora said as they both plopped themselves on the beach.

"No, all of us go to Radiant Garden Academy, the all girl's boarding school, we got let out for the summer and we decided we wanted to go to the beach," Kairi smiled as she looked out onto the ocean.

"Ahh, so when will you be going back?" Sora asked.

"Tomorrow, actually, I'm spend 6 weeks there finishing up, then I'm traveling to Midgar to go to Hallow Bastion Senior Academy,"

"Hallow Bastion? Wow, that's a pretty high-class school," Sora whistled.

"Well, I'm going on a scholarship," She smiled.

_**-SNAP- **_

Sora and Kairi looked up to see Namine holding a Camera. Both of the teens gave her a quizzical look as she shouted, "What? You two looked cute there,"

Suddenly there was a beep, which everyone looked up to see a 4WD parking, in the back was Vanitas and Terra holding a case of Alcohol, with Ventus and Aqua in the car already drinking.

Cheering, everyone began to unload the car. In a matter of seconds, the car was unloaded, the fire set up, the Alcohol passed around and a couple of hours later things began to get foggy, with laughing, slurring of words, more of the couples began to disappear somewhere 'Private' until only Sora, Kairi, Roxas, Namine, Riku and Xion were left, Each falling asleep in their partners arms.

The sound of the waves crashing woke Sora up. Groaning, and a hangover to accompany, he slowly rose, looking around. The fire was out and a couple of dozen empty bottles were lying around the area, some floating in the water. Many of the previous night's adventures were missing from his memory, but that wasn't the only thing. The three girls who had been with them were also gone, leaving himself, Riku and Roxas alone.

_What were their names again? _Sora thought to himself as he looked at his watch which was telling him that it was 9:31am, but try as he might Sora could not remember the names of any of the girls he had met before, everything they had said was now a lost memory.

_Were they even real?_ He thought as he began to look around, but he could find no sign of his other friends. Assuming they must have woken up early, Sora began to clean up the bottles, wanting to leave the beach as they had found it before. Even when Riku and Roxas woke up, he still could not find out the names of the others, Roxas saying that all he remembered was that the girl he was with "Name started with N," Because Sora found this no help at all, and that there was no evidence that the girls had even existed, he waved it off as an alcoholic illusion, and did not mention them to anyone else for fear of being laughed at.

_2009 _

The busy streets of Sector 4, Midgar were bustling with Traffic, tourists, and pretty much everything else that came with a huge city. Four specific tourists from the Destiny Islands made their way to a local coffee shop and sat down. These four tourists were actually up-and-coming Musicians who were trying to make it into the big leagues. All four were recent graduates, having completed their Mastery Exams, and having earned their Mark of Mastery Certificates, they had hopped on the first flight to Midgar, where they found an apartment to share and had gone from one gig to another, with nothing as of yet to turn them into rock stars.

Sora Strife, the lead vocals and backup guitarist for their band, _the Keybladers_ and also the one that had convinced his other friends to come to Midgar and pursue a musical carrier was reading the newspaper looking for a gig. Riku Leonhart, his best friend and Lead Guitarist was busy stirring his cup of coffee, looking at it with much interest. Roxas Fair, the Bass Guitarist was reading the front page of Sora's paper and Lea "Axel" Williamson was busy staring at one of the waitresses.

"SOLDIER warriors continue to battle in Balamb," Roxas read the headline, which caused Sora to lower his paper.

"Roxas, I swear to god, if you read off of the back of my paper again, I will slap you," Sora snarled.

"I'm sorry Sora, I'm just so bored," Roxas groaned.

"Well find something to do," Sora retorted as he lifted the paper back up to his face again.

Axel suddenly wore a sly smirk, which the other guys knew was a sign that he'd seen something he liked.

"What?" Roxas asked, which caused Riku to look up from his coffee and Sora too look up from his paper.

"That waitress over there," Axel pointed with his head, and the three other guys looked at where Axel had pointed.

Taking an order for an older gentleman was a young adult woman, about the same age as the guys, she was wearing a pair of jeans and t-shirt with an apron, who had her long autumn hair in a bun. She then walked over to her counter area and called out in a kind, friendly yet busy voice, "Coffee for old Master Xehanort!"

"Wow, she looks hot," Sora's eyes widened.

"Bet you 20 bucks you can get her number Axel," Roxas said as he fist bumped his best friend

"You're on," Riku said and Axel got up and began making his way over to her. Sora put his paper down and began to watch as Axel strutted over to the woman. Although there was quite some distance between them, they could still make out half the words,"

"Hey baby," Axel began in a really seedy voice. The woman looked up at Axel and then continued her work.

"I couldn't help but notice you serving that customer over there," Axel shook his head towards the old man she had just served. Still no response.

"I was thinking, you could serve me any time you want baby," Axel smiled dirtily, and Sora rolled his eyes as he put the paper down and got up.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"Putting an end to this before he gets us kicked out of this place," Sora stated as he began walking towards Axel and could not see Riku whisper something into Roxas' ear

"Come on baby, come take a seat at MY coffee table," Axel said as he moved closer to her and Sora, who was mentally face palming himself, grabbed Axel and threw him to the side.

"Sorry about that, my friend is mentally retarded and thinks he's God's gift to women," Sora smiled, to which the girl also smiled.

"Don't worry, I get his type every day," She said and Sora took note of the nametag that read 'Kairi'

"Nice to meet you miss Kairi, I'm Sora," Sora said and Kairi giggled.

"So formal, but please, call me Kairi," She smiled.

Meanwhile Axel had gotten up and taken a spot back at his table, sulking in defeat. Roxas, clearly beaten, withdrew his wallet and had handed Riku a 20-dollar note. Pocketing it Riku smiled as he took a sip of his coffee.

"Man Axel, why couldn't you have tried harder," Roxas whined.

"I dunno, everything I tried failed miserably," Axel stated as Riku took out his camera.

"What are you doing?" Roxas asked.

"Taking a photo of the two," He smiled as he held up his camera in the right position.

_**-SNAP- **_

Pocketing the camera, he smiled as he took another sip of coffee as Sora came back. Sora picked up his paper and coat.

"Well, come on, I paid for the coffee's while I was over there," Sora said as he stretched but no one moved.

"What?" Sora asked as he stared around.

"What happened fool?" Roxas asked, clearly impatient.

"Nothing, we talked, had a bit of a laugh…oh, and I also got this," Sora withdrew a piece of paper and walked off. Riku, Roxas and Axel all leaned in to see what was on it, and gasped as they realized it was a mobile phone number. Roxas sighed and withdrew a 50-dollar note from his pocket and gave it to Riku, grumbling as he did.

"What was that for?" Axel asked.

"He bet me 50 that Sora could get her number," Roxas grumbled as he got up and walked out, followed by Riku.

Axel, who was still in disbelief, said, "No, it must be fake, ill call it," And proceeded to call the number.

"So, you gonna call her?" Riku asked Sora as they walked away from the establishment.

"Nah, I told her about the dare, and she said shed play along and give me her number, a good looking girl like her, probably has some big man as a boyfriend," Sora smiled as there was a cry of disbelief that came from Axel.

"NO! IT'S GONE TO HER VOICEMAIL!"

_2012 _

_And I told you for the last time _

_Don't get in my way! _

Sora Strife strummed the final note of his song and the crowd erupted in cheers. They were standing in the Olympus Coliseum, one of the largest stadiums in Midgar. They had just finished their final song "_Don't get in my way!_" one of the more popular songs by the Keybladers. He grinned as he looked at his other band members, Riku Leonhart on Guitar, Roxas Fair on Bass, and Axel Williamson on drums.

Over the past couple of years, The Keybladers had slowly become one of the most successful bands on the planet. A couple of year before they had been seen by Rufus Shinra, the President of Shinra Productions, the largest Record company on the planet in a local bar. Right there and then he had signed them up for a 2-album contract, and that was it, They had made a ton of money, a ton of fans, they were living the dream, with parties every night, relaxation each day.

"THANK YOU SECTOR 4, GOOD NIGHT!" Sora screamed and the four members all walked off the large stage, still receiving cheers and screams from the members of the audience.

"Man, I'm still getting used to all this fame," Roxas smiled as he placed his bass guitar back in one of the cases.

"Not me, this is what I love, I feel like I've been treated like this all of my life," Axel said as he smiled.

"Well, I don't know about you all, but I could sure do without those paparazzi," Riku said as he took a drink of water from a bottle supplied to him by one of the arena staff.

"Well, now were off to the after party at the Bodhum Hotel," Axel punched the air before the four walked off to their limo.

Meanwhile, in the mosh-pit, Kairi and Namine Lockhart were cheering and screaming louder than most of the people there with their best friends Xion Wise and Arlene "Larxene" Dysley.

"Oh my god, I can't believe we just saw the Keybladers," Larxene screamed.

"I can't believe we managed to get tickets," Kairi screamed even louder.

"Well, it helps when you're dad's the Mayor of Destiny Islands," Namine elbowed Xion, and she smiled.

"Now we get to go back to one of the finest hotels in Midgar," Larxene jumped up and down.

"Off we go," Kairi smiled as they, along with hundreds of thousands of other audience members began to make their way towards the exit. Outside were several town cars, one of which was for the girls. They all climbed in and in a matter of seconds it was carrying them towards the Bodhum Hotel, the largest resort in Midgar.

Once they had arrived, the four girls ran straight to the elevator and soon they had reached their room, just a floor below the penthouse area. Bursting through, Kairi hit the couch first, followed by Namine slowly sliding into a chair. Xion and Larxene both hit the floor, to tired to move.

"I cannot even bother going to my room," Larxene whined and Xion nodded her head.

"Mmm, sleeping here sounds like a good plan," Kairi smiled at herself, her cheek squashing against the cushion, and began to slowly go to sleep.

Suddenly the distinct sound of an electric guitar went through the ears of each of the girls, causing them to jump up and hit the floor.

"What the hell!" Xion yelled as she slowly got up, followed by the others.

Then there was the sound of a bass guitar to accompany the electric one. Kairi and Namine both got up, their hands up to their ears trying to block out the noise.

"That's coming from the penthouse!" Namine shouted as a drum-kit accompanied the music they were listening to.

"That's it, I'm going up there," Kairi angrily shouted, and she made her way out of her room and to the elevator, hitting the _Penthouse_ button with some force. The elevator slowly made its way up, with an impatient Kairi tapping her foot inside it. The doors slowly opened to a bright light, and she had to glare to get a better look.

It looked as if she had stumbled upon a party; a lot of the people seemed to be around her age, or maybe a little older. Kairi took a deep breath as she made her way to the source of the music.

"OI! SOME OF US ARE TRYING TO SLEEP IN THIS HO-"

Kairi ceased yelling as the music suddenly stopped, and her eyes began to adjust. There were four people, who seemed to be the band all staring and looking at her. The man in the centre jumped down and began to walk towards her.

"We're very sorry miss, we thought that this room was soundproof, ill have to talk to that manager," The voice sounded very familiar to Kairi, and as soon as her eyes adjusted, her jaw dropped.

Standing in front of her, dressed as he had been on stage that night was none other than Sora Strife, the Lead Singer for the Keybladers. Although Kairi was completely immobilized by the sudden realization of whom she was talking to, her eyes traveled passed Sora to the other members of the band. And there they all were. Roxas Fair, Riku Leonhart and Axel Williamson.

"You're...you're…" Kairi slowly began to get back her vocabulary, and Sora smiled.

"Yes, I'm Sora Strife, and you are?" Sora smiled, but he never got a response, as Kairi suddenly screamed like a fan girl and ran out of the room, down the elevator, and burst through the door of her hotel room.

"Kairi, what-" Namine began, but was instantly silenced when Kairi grabbed the three girls and dragged them to the elevator.

"Kairi, what the hell are you doing?" Larxene looked at her as if she was insane, but Kairi was not making any sort of talking motion, merely bouncing up and down like a little girl on a sugar high.

"Is there any particular rea-" Xion was silenced when the doors opened, and they stepped out into the party.

"Oh, nice, Kairi got us invited to a party," Larxene smiled, the tiredness instantly gone.

"But whose party is it?" Namine asked Kairi and she pointed to the front, causing the girls to look and react the same way she had. Jaws dropped and completely immobilized.

"See, I told you she would be back," Sora smiled as he jumped down once again, and Roxas grumbled as he took out $100 and pushed it over to Riku, who smiled as he pocketed it.

Running over to the girls, Sora smiled as he reached them, "Sorry about the noise, we can stop playing if you want,"

From the other end of the room, Axel yelled, "NO WE CANT!"

Flipping him off, Sora continued, "Pay no attention to him…but if you want, you are welcomed to stay here for the night, I'm sure the rest of the floor below us will be joining us,"

The girls could do nothing but nod in response and Sora smiled as he ran back over to the band, and soon they were playing one of their first songs "Mystery Girl" After an hour and a half, a DJ replaced them and they began to dance with the others. Sora made his way towards Kairi and they began to dance, Roxas was sitting next to Namine, as she did not dance. Xion and Riku danced very wildly and Axel and Larxene completely gone, off to do God knew what. A mixture of tiredness and alcohol filled Kairi and she soon began to forget what was happening, until that morning, when she woke up in her own bed. Groaning due to the hangover, she slowly got up and made her way to her bathroom. Taking a shower, and cleaning the access makeup from her face, Kairi made her way over to her draw, when she noticed something at her bedside table. Slowly walking over to her draw, she found an envelope. Opening it, two things fell out. One was a photograph, and the other was a small note. Kairi smiled as she saw that is was a photo of herself and Sora Strife, smiling at the camera. On the back was an Autograph by each of the members of the Keybladers. Smiling and thinking she would frame the photo as soon as she got home, she took the note and read it aloud.

_Dear Kairi _

_I thank you for the wonderful evening of dancing and fun. You got drunk near the end, but I took care of you and made sure you were not left alone. _

_Look after yourself; maybe we shall see each other again some day if Fate allows it. _

_Yours truly, _

_Sora Strife. _

_P.S No I did not take advantage of you while you were vulnerable. _

Smiling at the innocence of the letter, Kairi placed it and the photograph back into the envelope, and placed it into her suitcase. She then got dressed, and woke her other friends up so that they could enjoy the rest of their day.

_2015 _

The scene was white. _Very_ White. This was the decoration to Namine Lockhart's wedding ceremony. She had had but one request, and that was that the setting was her favorite color; White. So everything, from her wedding dress to the flowers to even the outfits for the audience members was to be white. Everyone, of course, having known that this would probably happen at her wedding was more than happy to oblige.

So Kairi, Namine's sister and the maid of honor was standing next to Namine with a bouquet of white roses wearing a white dress, smiling for her sister while her soon-to-be husband put the ring on her finger, citing what the pastor had said. Kairi sighed as she looked around, her boyfriend Zell Ditcht nowhere in site.

_Typical_ Kairi thought, as this had not been the first time he had bailed on her. In the 2 years they had been dating, he had skipped half their meetings. Oh if they were alone, sure, but god forbid if it had anything to do with other people he would be there.

"…I know pronounce you husband and wife, you may kiss the bride," and with that Namine and her husband kissed as there was cheers in the Audience. Kairi smiled, as the husband was none other than the famous Roxas Fair, the ex-bass player for the Keybladers, one of the most famous bands on the planet. They had gone into hiding after all the publicity they had received after the news of breaking up. Roxas had said that none of the other members were there, as they were all in hiding somewhere else, and would be for the next six months until the paparazzi had gone. Kairi walked over and congratulated her sister, and soon let her mother, Tifa Lockhart say her congratulations as Kairi made it back to her table, where she spied a newspaper. Grabbing it, she looked at the front page, which showed a picture of her favorite band, the Keybladers. The headline read **KEYBLADERS DISBANDED, NOW MISSING IN ACTION. **

Sighing, she opened up the paper and began glancing through the paper. She was reading about how the SOLDIER warriors were winning the war on terrorism in Balamb, when all of a sudden she heard a voice chuckling at her.

Looking up, she noticed a man with brown spiky hair dressed in a white tuxedo smiling at her. Kairi glanced at him for a second longer before returning back to her paper.

"Isn't it rude to read a paper at a wedding?"

Kairi looked up again to find that the man had not only decided not to walk away, but was now sitting at her table.

"It's my sister's wedding," Kairi said shortly.

"Oh, I see, so you're the maid of honor then," The man smiled kindly and Kairi stared at his for a second before she nodded her head.

"So, where's your date?" The man looked around, expecting the date to appear from one of the doors.

"My boyfriend is…coming," Kairi said quite defensively, but the man merely raised his right eyebrow.

"So, ditched you huh?" he merely said and Kairi sank into her chair.

"Yeah," She said weakly, and the man smiled as he picked up the paper, closed it and placed it onto the table.

Kairi glanced at the cover, than at the man, then at the cover again as she picked it up, "Did anyone ever tell you that you look exactly like Sora Strife from the Keybladers," Kairi said, and the man chuckled.

"Yeah, I get that a lot," The man smiled as waltzing music began to play, and Namine and Roxas began dancing, Kairi smiled at the two, something she couldn't stop from doing even if she had tried.

The man smiled as an idea formed in his mind. Getting up and straightening his tie, he walked over to Kairi and held out his hand. Looking at him, then the dance floor she began to laugh.

"You must be joking," She said, staring at him as she did.

"Come on, one dance, then I promise I'll leave you alone," The man said, and Kairi's right leg twitched a little as she stared at the dancing, before she sighed and got up.

"She's a good sport," The man grinned as Kairi took a hold of his hand and together they walked onto the floor.

Slowly the couple began Waltzing around the room, Kairi could not help but smile. It was like some sort of fairy tale. Kairi felt like a princess as the man gracefully lead her around the dance floor. Somewhere she heard a click of a camera go off, but she was too caught in the man's cerulean eyes to notice.

The moment however was short-lived, as all of a sudden, his Phone went off. Excusing himself, he answered it.

"Hey…I see…thank you…yeah just get it ready…thanks, we'll be there in a couple of minutes," And ending the phone call, he placed it in his pocket.

"Roxas, we gotta go," The man said, and Roxas nodded his head as he took hold of Namine and began to head towards the door, with queries as to where they were going following them.

"It has been an extraordinary time, miss, but I must take my leave," The man said as he kissed her palm.

"Wait, where are you going?" She asked.

The man paused for a bit before he said, "I can't tell you,"

"Well, wherever you're going you're taking my sister there, so I think I have the right to know where you are taking her?" Kairi said hotly as she placed her hands on her waist.

Sighing, he kissed her cheek, "I would love to snatch you away and make you mine, and one day I might swing by and do just that. But right now it's important that we get Roxas and Namine out of here, and you stay here,"

"But you haven't even told me your name," Kairi cried out desperately.

Winking, the man answered, "You already guessed it before," And he performed a short bow before he ran out the door, his loose dinner jacket fluttering in the wind.

Kairi was at first confused by the answer he had given her, before she recalled a point before he had asked her to dance. And at that moment her eyes widened.

She had danced with none other than Sora Strife.

Suddenly the doors crashed, and hundreds of men and women with video camera's and microphones entered, hoping in vein that Sora Strife, Roxas Fair and his new bride were still in the building. But no matter how many times they asked her where the three had went, they could not get an answer out of her, as Kairi was still smiling at the memory of the dance, and it wasn't the thrill of being in the presence of a celebrity, but more so how courteous, romantic, and funny he had been…and she had let him slip away.

"Namine better get me his damn number," Kairi growled to no one in particular.

_2017 _

Kairi Lockhart grumbled as she began climbing a set of stairs. She was currently climbing the stairs of Departure Apartments, a small, nice looking apartment in sector 14 of Midgar. After four years of being together, her boyfriend Zell had broken up with her to travel to Balamb. Not that Kairi was complaining of course. The man never wanted to spend time with her in the company of others, had always forgot dinner plans, and had a strange obsession with hot dogs. So Kairi had decided to move out of their apartment and had luckily acquired this one at the last moment, as it's previous owner was moving out.

The elevator was out, and Kairi had to carry a large box up 5 flights of stairs. The box was full of paper, photographs, and other bits and bobs. However, it was full of so much junk that it was extremely heavy and Kairi was having some trouble getting up the stairs, as she was fearful that she would fall back and hurt herself.

Finally, she made it to the 5th floor, and was busy trying to find room 54. She managed to get there, but very soon a new problem arose.

"Damn, my keys are in my pocket," Kairi muttered to herself as she tried to get her right hand into her pocket to get the keys to her apartment. However, after a few failed attempts, she heard the distinct sound of a door opening, and turned around to see who was in her apartment.

The owner was a man, who looked to be around his mid 20s. He had long brown spiky hair, cerulean eyes. He was wearing a pair of loose jeans, and a red shirt with a black tracing of a heart on it. He smelt strongly of wild flowers, which was Kairi's favorite fragrance.

"Wow, do you need some help?" the man asked and Kairi managed to mutter an, "I'm fine," As she made her way into the apartment and place the box onto the bench.

"Sorry, I know I should have been out of here by 10, but there was a little problem with the delivery truck, and my dad called, and…urgh, I'm sorry," The man smiled and Kairi giggled.

"No, it's fine, it's actually a good thing you're here, else id still be out in the hallway trying to get in here," Kairi grinned.

"Heh, yeah…I'm Sora, by the way," The man known as Sora held his hand out, and Kairi grasped it.

"Kairi," She said and Sora gave her a quizzical look.

"What?" She said as they released hands.

"Oh, nothing…just…that name sounds…" Sora went of track before he shook his head.

Giggling, Kairi began to look around.

"Wow, it's so nice, why are you leaving?" She asked.

"Oh, this was only temporary, I've been building a little place on the Destiny Islands for some time, and it's only just been furnished, So just a quick stop to my local café and then off to the airport," Sora smiled as he stuck his hands in his pockets.

"Sound's awesome," Kairi smiled as she looked at the bedroom.

"Yeah," Sora sighed as he looked around, before he looked at his watch.

"Oh, shoot, I'm going to be late, it was nice meeting you Kairi, but I have to run," Sora said as he picked up his blazer and put it on, before he grabbed one last box from his bed and began to make his way towards the exit.

"Oh, ok, well thanks again for helping…you know, with the door," Kairi blushed.

"No problem, well…see ya," He said as he turned to go.

"Yeah…bye," Kairi smiled, shaking her head, as if something was wrong. But smiled as she watched Sora began to close the door.

However, just as it was about to close, there was a crashing sound, and Kairi spun round to see what had happened.

"Oh, shoot," She muttered as the door opened, and Sora ran in still carrying his box.

"What's happened?" He asked, and he got his answer as he looked down.

The box that she had been carrying had fallen from the kitchen bench to the ground, and all the paperwork had spilled all over the floor. Kairi was on the floor slowly picking it up.

"Here, let me help," The thought of being late had gone from his mind as he placed his box down on the ground and bent down and began to collect some paper.

"Urgh, thanks," Kairi smiled as she gathered some paper, and Sora only smiled as he grasped a handful of photographs. The smile faded, however, when he saw what the top picture was.

It was a picture of a small boy and girl in some sort of play area near a ball pit. The boy had short brown hair, while the girl had autumn hair. The boy was kissing the young girl on the cheek.

Kairi looked up to see what Sora was doing, and became confused when she saw him looking at the photo. She moved to a position where she could see, and looked at it for a few moments.

"Wow, that's a long time ago," Kairi smiled as Sora moved the photo to an empty space on the floor, then moved over to his box and began to shuffle through the various items in there, before he took out a photo and handed it to Kairi. She looked at it before she gasped.

It was a picture of the exact same girl and boy, but a couple of years younger, of this there was no mistake. They were standing at the edge of a mall playground, and this time it was the girl who was kissing the boy. She placed it to the left of her photo very slowly

Kairi began shuffling through the papers on the ground and found another photo. Her hand was shaking as she handed it too Sora, and he gasped at what he saw. It was a photo of his 16 year-old self on a beach, next to a young girl with short autumn hair. Through that photo, the lost memories of a night after their pre-mastery exams suddenly floated back, and he stared at Kairi as if she was a different person, as if she was an old friend. He placed the photo to the right of the first photo that had been placed down.

Sora again shuffled through his box, and withdrew a second photo, and handed it to Kairi. She stared at her 19 year-old self, laughing with a young man who Kairi instantly recognized as Sora. She slowly smiled at the memory as she placed it next in line.

She then shuffled through to the bottom of her photos as she found a framed photograph. She took out the picture and passed it to Sora. He looked at his old rock self laughing with Kairi, who was still able to stand and smile as he remembered the night quite clearly, as he too placed it next in line.

As Sora was staring at the lost memory, the girl that he had placed in her hotel room a couple of years back withdrew one final photo and handed it to Sora, who in return gave back the photo he was already holding, and he stared at it with a smile on his face.

It was a wedding type photo, with a more recent photo of the two, both whom were dressed in white. They were both hand in hand waltzing, looking into the others eyes.

Sora looked down to see Kairi had already placed the previous photo down, and Sora did the same as the two stood up and looked down. And there is was, like a timeline, in perfect chronological order; 1993, 3 years old at a mall playground, 1996, 6 years old at a play-area, 2006, 16 years old, a party on a beach, 2009, 19 years old in a coffee shop, 2012, 22 years old, at an after party, and 2015, 25 year old a wedding, dancing and having a deep moment.

Sora was the first to look away from the photo into Kairi's eyes, and as the memories began to flood back, one name entered his head, one name that had followed him throughout his entire life.

"Kairi Lockhart," He smiled, and Kairi looked up, amazed, and said the very name she had heard all over the news, papers, TV…but she knew, even if it hadn't, she still would have known the name.

"Sora Strife," She said, and she was not looking at a stranger anymore…she was looking at a missing piece of her life, someone who had entered her life more times than any random person could, so many times that he could not even be called a random stranger, he could not be even called a friend, or a best friend. He was her partner, her soul mate…her other.

Fate had guided the two to meet, to meet 7 times throughout their life, in different points, different circumstances due to luck, or being at the right place at the right time, or even because they had some sort of tiny, miniscule connection. So it only made sense that the universe wanted the two to be together, that it was destiny they should meet a total of 7 times, that Sora should lean in and kiss his mysterious other right at that moment, which is exactly what he did right then and there.

Once they had broken apart, Kairi giggled as she slowly dropped to the floor, sitting amongst the papers and photos. Sora smiled as he fell to the floor and crossed his legs.

"Unbelievable," Kairi muttered as her hand slowly glided over the papers that were around her.

"I know," Sora said as he rested his head down.

"To think we managed to meet…" Kairi began.

"…Seven times," Sora ended the sentence, and both the two stared at each other before they burst out laughing.

"We're even finishing each others sentences," Kairi smiled as she brushed a bit of her hair away from her face.

"We were made for each other," Sora stated and Kairi increased the size of her smile at the statement

Both the two continued to laugh for minutes longer, until Kairi adjusted herself so she was lying next to Sora.

"So, what do we do know?" she asked, and Sora hummed a tune as he thought.

"Well, this new place is pretty big, and I could get lonely, and it would take an awful long time to move all your stuff up here, so if you want, I guess you could come live with me…"

"…and see where things go from there?" Kairi ended, and Sora smiled.

"Seems we have the same thing on our minds," Sora stretched.

"That's always a good sign," Kairi muttered as she snuggled closer to him.

Sora smiled for a few more moments, before he got an idea, and took out his camera.

"What are you doing?" Kairi asked as he noticed what Sora had done.

"Well, I was just thinking…seven is considered a lucky number…and we only have six photo's here," Sora stopped as he saw Kairi smile, indicating that she had gotten what he was planning to do.

"Well what are you waiting for?" She whispered as she snuggled closer, and he smiled as he held the photo above them. On the screen of the camera was two adults, lying amongst dozens upon dozens of photos, both smiling, and waiting for what the world would offer next. The both put their heads closer to the other as Sora pressed the button on the camera.

_**-SNAP- **_

T**h****E **_**E**__**N**__d_


End file.
